Impossibilities
by LogwithaHat
Summary: No one from the Black Order Supernatural Investigative Agency expected Allen to disappear, but he did. Kanda didn't expect to care, but he does. Modern AU
1. Impossibility 1

**Impossibility #1: Allen's Disappearance**

Kanda was irritated. That much was something that even an idiot could tell. It was evident in every step that he took, heavy and purposeful, it dripped from him slowly and thickly, a viscous magma boiling just below his skin.

There were several causes for his irritation. The first was his natural pre-disposition towards the feeling; the second was his coffee machine breaking in the morning; and the third was the news of Allen Walker's disappearance. One of these was more serious than the others and affected most workers at the Black Order Supernatural Investigative Agency (just shortened to the Black Order, because that was all anyone was bothered to say).

After the disaster with his coffee machine (which now lay in a hole in his back garden after a fit of frustration), Kanda had been less than pleased to receive a frantic phone call from the agency headquarters, demanding that he come in and help find Allen, this was partially due to the fact that he hated Allen, slightly due to the fact that he was convinced it was a joke and mostly due to the fact that he had been planning on buying a new coffee machine instead.

Allen was a keen worker of the agency, one who most of his co-workers loved. A pleasant smile always plastered itself to his face and people felt comforted in his presence, as though they were in the audience of a gentle god. He could calm anyone down with a simple glance in their direction: that was what most would say if asked what they liked most about Allen Walker. Kanda disagreed with all of it and found their hyperbole tiresome.

As far as anyone could tell, he had gone missing at some point between Friday evening and Monday morning. He had left work at five pm on Friday only to never arrive back on Monday. His absence was noticed immediately as Allen loved his job and had yet to miss a day (Kanda felt that Allen loved his job a bit too much and made sure that Allen knew it). Lenalee had been the one to go over to his house after becoming concerned when he failed to answer the phone the sixteen times they had tried to get in contact with him. There had been no one there.

Nothing was suspicious in the house. There were no great signs that gave any clues of why Allen left. It was clean; clothes carefully hanging from hangers in his wardrobe, only one casual outfit where the rest were work uniforms; books lined the shelves neatly; a freshly stocked kitchen so packed with food that no one would think that Allen lived alone. The only signs that something was amiss were an open window on the first floor, and a wall smashed inwards on the ground. The front door had been locked when Lenalee had arrived as had the back door when she checked that, the only way Lenalee had gotten in was through her strong kick, which had caved in the door like it was Styrofoam.

Half an hour later, these facts were known to the entire Black Order, which led to Kanda's current predicament wherein he was standing in front of Allen's house ready to investigate for clues. He blinked tiredly at the sight of the mess in front of him. The front door that Lenalee had kicked half was lying broken in the doorway, split cleanly in half, making the house stand out compared to the rest of the orderly neighbourhood.

Stepping over the broken halves of the door carefully, Kanda inspected the house carefully.

In the living room there was a newspaper from Saturday open on the coffee table, a half full mug of - now rather rancid looking – tea sat on a coaster next to it, and a plate that only held crumbs perched precariously atop a book.

Filing away the information, Kanda checked the rest of the house. Unfortunately, there wasn't much else that he could see that would be useful, definitely no convenient note explaining everything, which would have made Kanda's life a while lot easier. He did note, however, the lack of photos anywhere in the house, although he wasn't sure what it meant. It was strange, Kanda thought, that Allen went on about that Mana guy a lot, but he didn't seem to have photos of him either, especially for a person as sentimental as Allen. He decided not to dwell on it too much because Allen's softness pissed him off even when he was just remembering it.

He searched the house for an hour before deciding that it would be futile to try to find any more clues there. As much as he hated to admit it, Allen wasn't the type to be careless enough to leave a trail when he clearly didn't want to be found, besides, Kanda was not a detective, and he was definitely not getting paid enough to do this so he didn't want to linger. With this in mind, Kanda brushed past two Black Order members who were standing next to the broken door, looking rather confused at the whole situation (in all fairness, they looked confused in a lot of situations so it wasn't much of a change).

Leaving the house, he noticed Lenalee and Lavi standing in the front garden talking to each other, worry clear on their faces despite Lavi's hollow smile. Spotting him, they rushed over, crowding him with a suffocating concern.

"Did you see anything?" Lenalee asked, clasping her hands together as though in prayer.

"Nothing," Kanda grunted shortly, trying to move past them only for them to block him.

"You couldn't see anything at all?" Lavi asked, confused.

Kanda stopped, sighed at the stupidity of the question, before growling, "No. Nothing."

"So we're no better off than we were before," Lavi mused, "Dammit Allen! Why do you have to be so good at worrying us?" He cried in exasperation, tugging at his flaming hair (metaphorically, although Kanda was tempted to make it literal if Lavi didn't let him past in the next five minutes).

"He left on Saturday." Kanda scowled, "He left in a hurry, he wasn't expecting to go either. He should still be in the country. I don't think he'll leave. At least, not for a while." He added, "I didn't need to _see_ anything to be able to tell you that."

"How did you know that?" Lenalee asked, a puzzled expression pulling at her dainty features.

"It was obvious. He was clearly attacked, judging by the fucking _dent_ in his wall, and, if so, then they're probably still after him which means he can't use his passport or cards to leave the country or he would be leaving a trail. He could still leave the country, but he would need fake papers and those take a while to get, meaning he's stuck here for the time being. There's a newspaper on his table in the living room from Saturday." Kanda explained in an irritated rush, glaring at his friends disdainfully, "It's stuff even _you_ could have figured out, if you hadn't been too busy moping out here to go check the Beansprout's house yourself." He directed this to Lavi, who looked away, his face blank.

"If you didn't know that, then you should fire the fucking idiots who were supposed to be in charge of this investigation in the first place." He scowled again, furrowing his eyebrows to the point where it looked uncomfortable.

Lenalee swallowed, a troubled look crossing her face briefly before returning to that persistent worry, "Who do you think was chasing him?" She asked following a moment of silence.

"How the hell should I know," Kanda said flatly, his face betraying no emotion as he pushed past the two firmly, not allowing them to block his path again (luckily for Lavi, as Kanda may have punched him if he had done so again).

Lavi and Lenalee stared after him in silence, the house a looming presence behind them. They stayed like that until they could no longer see Kanda anymore, watching him climb into his car and drive back to headquarters.

"Kanda's pretty upset." Lavi murmured thoughtfully once he was sure that Kanda was completely gone. A smile ghosted his face, "See? I told you him and Allen were actually friends."

"Do-" Lenalee gasped out, her eyes bright with unshed tears which she had admirably managed to hold back until this point, "Do you think he's alright?"

"Yeah. He's going to be fine." Lavi said, grabbing Lenalee's hand and squeezing it comfortingly.

Lenalee nodded, looking relieved, as though Lavi's words were infallible. "I'm glad." She choked out. Her eyes filled with tears that she could no longer hold back and they dripped down her face in thick streams, her face flushed with sadness, "I'm so glad." She repeated, collapsing to the ground on her knees, clutching her hands to her chest like she was in pain.

"Hey," Lavi fretted, clutching her shoulders gently, "Are you alright, Lenalee? Everything's going to be fine." He continued to reassure her, trying to wipe away her tears.

Both of the Black Order members who had been standing by the entrance of Allen's house the whole time, caught sight of Lenalee's crying and rushed over looking comically uncertain about how to react. Lavi shrugged them off, pulling Lenalee up himself, "Go back to the house and check it over again, you might have missed something," he said not looking at either of the men, "I'm going to take Lenalee to Komui." He walked over to his own car with Lenalee to follow after Kanda back to headquarters.

The two men nodded returning to their work with doubt in their eyes.

* * *

It had really seemed to be an impossibility that Allen would disappear, he loved his job, he loved his friends, he loved- well, everything. His job could be dangerous, that was true, but he would have fought back if it had been anything supernatural, and he hadn't, he'd run.

Allen knew that his friends would be thinking this - trying to solve a puzzle they didn't have all the pieces to - and he regretted not being able to at least say a goodbye to them, to explain himself or apologise.

Ultimately, it was for the better, he pondered, huddling closer to the brick wall the random building he was sitting against. He must have looked homeless to the people who passed by, with his filthy clothes, torn where they had caught on bushes, and twigs in his hair. He supposed he was now. After all, he couldn't go home, that would be a stupid move, he would just have to keep walking forward, he decided, as though there was any chance he would have chosen otherwise.

Picking himself up, Allen stumbled to the closest shady pub he could find so he could win some money for breakfast. In the back of his mind, he almost wished that his friends would find him, but then he remembered why he had to leave in the first place and began to hope that they didn't.

He stopped worrying about it when his head started to throb.

* * *

 **Ok. This is slightly edited, you probably won't even notice it.**

 **Obligatory Disclaimer: If I owned D Gray Man you would know, but I am not Japanese, and I have no artistic skills, so** _that_ **would be the real impossibility here. However, we do have similar update schedules, and by that I mean: radio silence for several years just to pop out with content when you least expect it.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Impossibility #2: Komui Checking His Messages**

The Black Order Supernatural Investigative Agency was in chaos when Kanda arrived. Komui, who was supposed to be in charge of calming everyone down and retaining order seeing as he was in charge; was not doing that, and was instead hiding in his office with the door locked, not letting anyone in. Not even Reever could get in, despite his admirable efforts.

Kanda, who was thoroughly fed up with all this nonsense by this point, and really just wanted Allen to stop messing around and come back to the Order so everyone could carry on with their lives, was not going to put up with this childish behaviour. He impaled the door a few times with his katana to show that Komui was going to be in serious trouble with him if he didn't open up right away, and watched the magic of his intimidation work like a charm as the click of the lock sounded immediately.

Kanda pushed his way in, followed by Reever, who was exceedingly pleased with his work and sent him a brief thumbs up as a way of thanks. Kanda ignored this of course, choosing to glare at Komui as though he were dealing with a troublesome toddler, rather than the grown man he was.

"D-Did you manage to see anything?" Komui asked, sweating under the fearsomeness of Kanda's glare.

"No." Kanda's lip curled in annoyance.

Komui hummed, "Really? That is strange." He paused, a thoughtful air crossing him, as he laid his hands palm down on his desk that was cluttered with paper work, "I got a call from the Vatican." He admitted, looking a little reluctant.

Reever was surprised, "You picked up a phone call that wasn't from Lenalee?" He asked sounding as if he had just heard that Michael Jackson had risen from the dead, "You did work? _Voluntarily?_ "

"I'm not that bad." Komui waved it off, managing to ignore all the evidence in his office that begged to the contrary, "It looked important," he conceded upon seeing both Kanda and Reever glaring at him, "They're our kind-of business partners, so it's not like I can ignore them."

"Like that's stopped you before," Reever muttered disdainfully.

"What did they say?" Kanda cut in impatiently.

Komui faltered, "I wrote it down somewhere." He confessed, taking a sip from his cup of coffee guiltily.

"You what?" Kanda glowered, "Where did you put it?"

Komui shrugged, "It eludes me at this moment."

"Oh god. We're never going to find it." Reever moaned, hanging his head in his hands.

"Don't be like that, I believe that you two will find it," Komui remarked, half-heartedly rummaging through a few of the papers in front of him, giving them a quick glance over before throwing them over his shoulder when he saw that they weren't the right one.

"You mean _you'll_ find it." Kanda threatened.

Taking another sip from his coffee, Komui met Kanda's glare with an innocent look, shrinking back in his chair fearfully, "That's what I said." He laughed suddenly and awkwardly. Kanda did not laugh with him.

"Are you sure you can't remember what they said?" Reever asked, thankfully breaking the tension that was steadily growing between Kanda and Komui.

"I wrote it down, so I thought that I didn't need to remember it."

Luckily, before either Kanda or Reever could reach over the desk and throttle Komui, the door to the office swung open again, letting Lenalee and Lavi enter. Lenalee was looking worse than she had when Kanda had left them at Allen's house, though she wasn't crying, it was sorely evident that she had been not too long ago. Her eyes were still red rimmed and bloodshot, and her cheeks were evidently sticky even in the light of the office, she leaned on Lavi heavily - clearly he was acting as her pillar of support right now, metaphorically and literally.

Komui was incensed at the sight. "Lenalee!" He cried, "What are you doing to my precious sister?" He demanded, lunging over the desk to try and reach Lavi. Kanda and Reever quickly restrained him, latching onto his arms with an iron grip, both of them felt thoroughly done with Komui which was becoming increasingly obvious.

Lavi, to his credit, wasn't scared off by Komui and stood his ground rubbing Lenalee's back comfortingly. Lenalee herself didn't seem to acknowledge what was happening in the office, the tension slipping past her like oil and water. Instead, she pulled away from Lavi, rushing towards Komui and hugging him tightly.

The resulting scene ended up fairly uncomfortable position wise as Komui was still leaning over the desk with Kanda and Reever attached to him. Swiftly, they released their hold on him, retreating to stand next to Lavi, somewhat uncertain in how to procced at this point.

"Brother," Lenalee sniffed, her arms wrapped tightly around Komui's chest, but there were no tears on her face and her voice was unwavering, "We'll find Allen, right?"

Stroking her hair rhythmically, Komui hummed in affirmation, "Of course. Everyone will be looking for him, so there's no need to worry, Lenalee."

"Do you think he's safe?" Lenalee pressed urgently.

There was a brief, almost imperceptible pause, before Komui confidently replied, "Of course he is. Allen's grown a lot since arriving here, and since he's lived with Cross before, I'm sure he has plenty of survival knowledge."

As they talked, they completely ignored Lavi, Reever and Kanda, who were beginning to shuffle awkwardly where they stood, unsure if they should leave the siblings alone or not – they seemed to have forgotten about them.

Seeing that nothing was happening, Kanda masked his discomfort brusquely and interrupted to ask the question that had been pressing on his mind the whole time, "What did the Vatican say?"

It was his distaste of the Vatican that caused it to bother him so much that they had called. He hated the Black Order's dependence on them for their supplies of holy water and blessed items, but it was a necessary deal, otherwise the Black Order wouldn't be able to purge supernatural abnormalities without spiritually aware exorcists.

"The Vatican?" Lenalee asked, separating herself from her brother to look at him quizzically, "What's Kanda talking about, brother?"

Komui coughed sheepishly, "Yes, well- I might've received a call from them earlier today."

"What did they say?"

Yes. Uh, well- I might've written it down somewhere, and I also might've lost that message somewhere in this office," Komui mumbled, finally looking rightfully ashamed of his actions.

Lenalee was not pleased. "What?" She said, her tone shifting alarmingly quickly. Her eyes hardened, leaving no room for sympathy, and a glare that could rival Kanda's replaced her previous confusion. Even Kanda was not stupid enough to piss Lenalee off when it counted on it, even if she wasn't putting as much heart into it today. She was terrifying when she wanted to be.(From next to her, Lavi muttered a quiet, "Oh, God. Please no," as it dawned on him that he would, no doubt, be part of the search team) "Brother," she warned menacingly, "you better find that message."

When he pouted like a petulant child, she continued, "It's almost definitely important if they called you directly, brother." She paused, pondering on the implication, "Actually, it must have been really urgent if they didn't just send an email or letter like they usually do."

"Or maybe they just knew that he would be a useless bastard and wouldn't even glance at a letter or email." Kanda cut in scathingly.

Lenalee's eyes lit up with sudden hope, "Could it be about Allen?" She asked, her eyes widening at the possibility, ideas clearly running through her head a mile a minute, "Maybe they sent him on a mission! Or maybe they've heard news about him!"

It was a stretch - which was something that everyone but Lenalee could see. Kanda wasn't sure if Lenalee believed it herself, but it was tempting to latch on to any kind of explanation, even if it was false. Fortunately, Kanda didn't need a false explanation to comfort him; he already knew that Allen was unlikely to return soon - he had a martyr complex more obvious than the scar on his face, and was undoubtedly trying to deal with his problems on his own, without considering his own health. Allen was the type of person who needed someone to drag him home kicking and screaming, and Kanda was more than happy to fill that position if it meant that he could finally punch some sense into the suicidal idiot.

"I'm, afraid that's unlikely, Lenalee," Komui said, not happy in the slightest at what he was saying, "There's no way they could have heard about Allen's disappearance yet – we only found out today – and even if they did, they don't know who Allen is. I haven't told them about him yet. And they couldn't have sent him on a mission without my permission anyway."

She visibly deflated at his answer, although she tried to hide it. Komui felt guilty at being the root of her unhappiness and attempted to make her feel better by insisting, "But I'm sure that Allen couldn't have gotten too far. I'll make sure that everyone keeps an eye out for him, there's no way he'll be able to hide if everyone works together to find him. Besides," he added, lowering his voice conspiratorially, "That's thinking he'll be able to find his way out of town - you know how bad his sense of direction is."

Softly, Lenalee nodded, mustering a fond smile at the thought. "You're right, brother." She worried her lip, rubbing her hands for a moment. "I'll go get you some coffee," she said eventually, "I'm sure you'll need the energy while you're looking for that note."

Simultaneously, Lavi and Reever wilted at the prospect of digging through Komui's office for a slip of paper - it would be easier to find a needle in a haystack, for comparison. Lavi sunk his head in his hands, muffling a despairing groan as best he could (which wasn't particularly well, and it was amusingly obvious that he was crying).

Unwilling to stay any longer, lest he also be roped into doing Komui's grunt work, Kanda stood up to follow Lenalee to the cafeteria. He hadn't had time for breakfast before he left home (a fact which he firmly blamed Allen for), and was still cranky from his lack of coffee.

"You know what?" Lavi said quickly, trying to make a dash for the door too, "I just remembered, I haven't had breakfast. I better go get some from Jerri."

His attempted escape was interrupted when Lenalee block the exit with her arm. "That's ok, Lavi. I can go get breakfast for you while I'm getting the coffee. You stay here and help brother and Reever." There was a smile on her face, although she must have understood Lavi's silent plea to let him leave.

"Yep, you're stuck here with us, I'm afraid." Komui smiled toothily at him, not unlike how a shark would to its prey.

"Why doesn't Kanda have to help us?" Lavi asked indignantly, lifting his head up look at Kanda enviously.

Laughing nervously, Komui shook his head. "Kanda's allowed to leave because I'm scared of him, and I'm seriously concerned that I'll lose my head if I make him stay any longer."

Kanda nodded in agreement with the statement, making sure to shut the door behind him so Komui wouldn't be tempted to drag any more scientists into doing his work.

Komui's countenance changed as quickly as they left the room, exhaustion lined every bone in his body, and it was easy to see that running a large international, Supernatural-hunting organisation was no simple task, even if he did neglect many of his duties. He pinched his nose to alleviate his fatigue and collapsed heavily into his desk chair.

"Do you really think that he's ok?" Lavi asked dully, his face dropping like a stone. He sounded drained compared to his usual cheeriness, chewing his lip in agitation.

Komui rested his face in his hand, averting Lavi's gaze, while Reever folded his arms, not moving from the corner where he stood, staring at the floor.

Silence answered his question.

* * *

Lenalee and Kanda made their way to the canteen quietly, Kanda never made small-talk, and Lenalee was still sombre, a frown creasing her pretty face and dawdling behind Kanda, but the silence was welcomed by Kanda. He had a headache from the mess his morning had been, and the last thing he wanted to do was participate in a conversation with a down Lenalee, who would surely want emotional comfort that he couldn't provide.

Upon reaching the cafeteria, Kanda went straight to Jerri, ordering his usual bowl of soba and a mug of coffee. Lenalee followed behind him, managing a smile and a wave at the members of the Order who looked their way. She ordered her own food – a slice of chocolate cake – and they sat themselves at one of the long canteen tables.

The bitter taste of the drink bit the back of Kanda's throat pleasantly – Jerri's coffee was ever delicious, Kanda had no experience, but he was willing to bet that it was superior to any professional's (this was an exaggeration. Kanda did not bet). Lenalee had sat ramrod straight in her chair, prodding her food with a fork, taking only the barest of bites. If Kanda was anyone else, he would have said something comforting, an arm around the shoulder, or even a pat in the back. Unfortunately for Lenalee, he was Kanda, so he barely glanced at her, only offering a grunt of assurance that Allen would be found. Kanda did not like repeating himself, so he refrained from saying anything more.

He liked Lenalee. She could be a bit emotional at times, and make him feel uncomfortable, especially when she cried (which, thankfully, was not too often), but she was honest, even when she tried not to be. Her emotions were straightforward and he could tell what she was thinking from her face alone. She wasn't confusing and rarely lied, unlike Allen and Lavi, who were both adept at masking their real emotions and showing only what they thought others wanted to see. It also helped that she was one of the only people whose presence he could stand for longer than five minutes – an astounding feat on its own.

So he felt a tingle of not-quite guilt when he realised that his supposed-to-be-of-some-comfort grunt had done nothing to settle her fears. Fortunately for Kanda, this was overshadowed by the a awkwardness he felt. He was incredibly aware of his inability to deal with others' feelings, and so, he didn't linger on his guilt.

While they had been in the canteen, they had run into Miranda. Or rather, Miranda had run into them after tripping over air, almost collapsing onto the ground if it hadn't been for Lenalee managing to steady her.

Miranda was one of the only other people in the Black Order who talked to Kanda and Lenalee. Most employees of the Black Order weren't proper Exorcists, and felt intimidated by them, more so now that Allen was missing (he was the one who tended to breach the gap between the ranks. Lenalee was eager to attempt friendships with everyone, but they were scared off by her brother - which was sensible because Komui could be a _very_ scary person when it came to Lenalee. However, she had kindled several friendships with some female members of the Order, as well as the more timid male members, like Johnny, who Komui deemed not to be a threat).

Miranda was a newer member of the Black Order; she had some connection to Father Time – Kanda couldn't recall exactly how, but he supposed she must have been blessed by him, or was some distant relative, which wasn't too uncommon. There were plenty of people with blood ties to deities, particularly lower-class ones, like Father Time.

The Vatican believed that there was a higher God above that, who had created all other entities, even the supernatural, and that these deities were also a product of his work, with powers that could never rival His. Their explanation for why He had done this, was that they were trials and tribulations for humans, similar to the devil, they created temptations for man-kind that must be overcome. Kanda thought this was bull and just a way to justify the Vatican's dislike of non-humans.

Father Time was a lower-class deity who kept time. He had records of every major event that had passed (and a few minor ones as well) – courtesy of the Bookman clan –and had access to the hourglass of each person, along with the 'weave of time'- or some crap like that. Kanda couldn't be arsed to remember, but he was fairly sure that he just made sure time ran smoothly. Like a glorified clock winding key.

It was unfailingly difficult to see the connection between Miranda and Father Time. Her shy demeanour and clumsy approach to things detracted from any gracefulness she may have possessed, which made it impossible for anyone to see how someone like her could be so well-liked by a deity. Enough that she would be given an important blessing and entrusted with such an important and powerful ability.

"I-I'm so sorry!" Miranda immediately began to wail. Her voice was high-pitched and cracked with unnecessary guilt that scratched at Kanda's ears.

"It's alright, Miranda," Lenalee was quick to extinguish the tall woman's panic, "I think we're all having a bad day today." She looked as though she might have been trying to smile, but it came out too forced to be natural.

Miranda slumped to the ground, as though her spine had given up like she had so many times before, tears beginning to gather in the corners of her make-up smudged eyes, "Right. Allen," she said cautiously, her voice dropping drastically to a whimper, "Do-" She paused, tears knotting in the back of her throat, and Kanda couldn't be more grateful for Lenalee's presence at that moment. The thought of being made to face a crying Miranda by himself made him want to break something in annoyance.

"Do you think that he'll come back?" Miranda continued.

Lenalee seemed to freeze in place for a second. She might have tried a flimsy reassurance, but Kanda seized the chance to answer before she could react. "It doesn't matter if he comes back. The Black Order will find him and drag him back if they have to." He clicked his tongue in irritation, "I don't know why everyone's being an idiot and asking these fucking stupid questions, but one thing that you should all have realised fucking _years_ ago, is that the Black Order doesn't let exorcists go like this. As long as Allen's alive, they'll keep hunting him."

Miranda stared at him for a moment - she probably hadn't quite realised the extent of the Black Order's determination to collect exorcists. Kanda didn't regret being the one to break it to her. She would last longer if she kept that fact close to her.

It took a moment longer before Lenalee helped pull Miranda up, her own emotions clear as day scrawled on her face.

"You and Allen helped me a lot when I first came here." Miranda muttered to Lenalee, her tone tinged with wistfulness. Kanda remembered that Allen and Lenalee had been the ones to bring her to the Order in the first place, and he thought that maybe her gratitude towards him was slightly misplaced, because now she was trapped, just like the rest of them. "I only wish that I could have done the same for you two."

"You have, Miranda," Lenalee insisted, "I'm sure Allen would agree too." Kanda knew she was right, but wasn't sure if Allen would have been honest.

Miranda offered a small smile, "I hope so, but he always seemed so… distant." She looked away, unwilling to stare Lenalee in the eyes, "I-I better go, I was supposed to meet with Marie five minutes ago."

She managed not to stumble again as she walked out of sight, which Kanda supposed might have been a sign of improvement since she had arrived at the Order. Lenalee was quiet where she stood, obviously contemplating what Miranda had said. On any other day Kanda might have made a remark, but it had been a long morning, and Lenalee looked upset enough without his input.

"Come on," she said eventually, "Let's go find out if Brother has found that note yet."

* * *

Lavi and Komui's inability to find the message in Komui's office was not surprising in the least to Kanda, because Komui's office was particularly special in that it had the ability to swallow up any object you set down in it for longer than five seconds. Once you lost something in Komui's office, it was gone forever. So, when Kanda and Lenalee had returned to the room after their trip to the canteen, it wasn't strange for them to hear that the two's efforts had been in futility.

"Oh well," said Lenalee, "At least you tried." She handed Komui a mug of coffee from a tray she was holding, that she had grabbed from Jerri's on her way out, "We can always call back."

"Lenalee, your coffee is impeccable as always!" Komui cried, not seeming to notice that the coffee was Jerri's and not Lenalee's.

No one pointed it out.

Lavi, who was lying in an exhausted heap in the corner of the room atop a pile of papers, looked up at Lenalee hopefully, "Is there any for me?" He asked, holding his hands out like a beggar.

"Of course, Lavi, I have it right here." She smiled, passing him a mug and a plate with a warm almond croissant on it.

Almost collapsing in gratitude, Lavi took the coffee with both hands, nursing it to his chest as though it was a child. He sat in a pile of papers, his fingertips stained blue from the fountain pen ink that Komui was partial to.

The office was miraculously messier than before; books which had been on the shelves when Kanda and Lenalee had left the room were now pulled clumsily off, and lay strewn about without any thought. They had obviously been searching between the books for the note, and thrown the books away once it had been confirmed that there was nothing hidden between the pages. There had been an almost organised chaos to Komui's office just an hour earlier, files precariously piled high, just below tipping point. Now, the teetering mountains had been felled and were spread across the floor haphazardly, littering every inch of the ground to the point where it was no longer visible.

Reever rubbed the back of his neck, grumbling loudly, "I just hope it wasn't anything important."

* * *

 **OH BOI! Guess who's back? And it only took me about 2 years to get out the second chapter - at this rate, I might complete it before the sun explodes and the earth is destroyed in the heat.**

 **Don't worry though, guys. I've got your backs. I do have a _few_ more chapters ready, and this isn't even anywhere near the longest one I've written, so look forward to that. So, they'll be coming out in a more reliable time period - maybe once every two weeks, either that or monthly, depending on how long it takes for me to write. I've been on a roll lately, but that could just be because I don't have any essays to hand in right now.**

 **I don't really have an excuse for the ridiculous wait, other than I just wasn't happy with what I was writing, and a lot of the time I just couldn't find the will to write for this; I spent a lot of time writing other things and not this one, so I might upload those at some point but idk.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Impossibility #3: The Vatican Not Interfering**

These were all the facts about Allen that the Black Order knew:

1) Allen lived alone in a small house about a fifteen-minute walk away from the Order. Despite this, he only really returned home on weekends, as most of the time he preferred to sleep in one of the rooms at the Order.

2) His master was Marian Cross, a veteran member of the Order who was more elusive than the spirits he hunted and twice the trouble. This was, unfortunately, a dead end, as it was more likely that you would discover a flying pig than find Cross.

3) Allen once had a father named Mana. He was a more literal dead end.

4) His birthday was on Christmas, although he was reluctant to celebrate it in any way.

5) His favourite food was mitarashi dango, a type of dumpling with a sweet soy sauce glaze, though he was also partial to other types of sweets (and food in general. He acted like he had six stomachs when it came to eating).

And lastly:

6) Allen was cursed.

The more they thought about it, the less, they realised, they knew about Allen. He had a way of deflecting private questions back onto the person asking, it was an impressive skill, but it really did seem that he was too good at it.

This was all the information Lenalee and Lavi had managed to collect from all the members of the Black Order over the course of two days. It was a meagre amount, and nothing that Lavi and Lenalee didn't already know. There was no hidden clue, no missing puzzle piece that would click and lead them to a secret location where he was hiding, just a worrying amount of useless facts. After two days, they were still no closer to finding Allen.

On the third day since Allen had been discovered missing, Lenalee and Lavi walked into the Black Order after meeting for coffee at a Costa to recap on what they knew about Allen's disappearance, and discuss theories that grew wilder the more time that passed.

Immediately, they could tell something was off.

Instead of rushing straight to his sister to encompass her in a hug (it often seemed like he had an extra sense just to tell him when Lenalee was close by), Komui was nowhere to be seen. Looking around, there were no other members strolling about the corridors, they were empty as far as the eye could see.

Feeling apprehensive, Lenalee and Lavi exchanged puzzled glances, worried creases marking their faces. "Where is everyone?" Lavi asked, tilting his head like a confused puppy. "I mean, I know I'm scary, but this is kind of ridiculous," he joked lightly.

Lenalee shook her head. "I-I'm not sure," she replied, sounding just as uncertain, "Let's go find brother – I'm sure he'll know what's happening."

Lavi nodded in agreement, and they both made their way to Komui's office, Lavi making sure to stick close to Lenalee, playing his part of the easily frightened joker well. Lenalee noticed his fear, smiling to herself at the comfortable familiarity of the situation. Lavi was her most common partner when she was sent out on missions, despite having known Kanda longer, and it was a common sight to see him flinch away from scenes that retained any similarities to horror movies (however strange that was, considering he worked at a supernatural investigation organisation).

Upon reaching Komui's office, it became abundantly clear where everyone had gone. There was a large crowd positioned outside Komui's door, ears pressed tightly against the wood. Johnnie, one of the scientists that worked at the Order, was trying to no avail to disperse the crowd.

"Johnnie!" Lavi cried out when he spotted him, "What's going on?"

Johnnie let out a sigh of relief upon spotting Lavi and Lenalee approaching, and waved them over desperately. "Bookman's already inside," he informed Lavi hurriedly, "I can't get anyone to leave."

"Wait. What's happening, Johnnie?" Lenalee asked, placating, gripping his shoulders in an attempt to calm him.

Stopping abruptly, Johnnie looked at her surprised. "You don't know?"

"We just got here."

Johnnie blinked as the realisation hit him, "Oh!" he said simply, "The Vatican's here." He paused. "Not the whole Vatican, of course - just a representative," he stammered, stumbling over his words.

Both Lenalee and Lavi froze when they heard his words. "The Vatican?" They asked in unison.

"And Gramps is already in there?" Lavi continued.

Johnnie nodded quickly.

Sharing a glance, Lenalee and Lavi gently pushed their way to the front of the crowd and pushed open the door, ignoring the members who fell to the floor when the door they were leaning on suddenly moved beneath them.

Inside, Komui was sitting behind his desk, Reever standing behind him, both looking more serious than Lenalee had seen them before. Kanda was already there, standing in the corner he always stood in, arms crossed and eyes shut in annoyance, Bookman stood parallel to him, on the opposite side of the room, hunched over, his face telling nothing.

Before Komui's desk was an average height blond man, dressed smartly, a grey blazar, and smart trousers, but it was difficult to tell from the back. His hair was long, although not longer than Kanda's, reaching down to the middle of his back, but braided neatly. In his hand was a small briefcase, shiny and black, looking brand new just as the rest of him did, no scuffs or marks.

He turned around when Lenalee and Lavi burst in – not surprised or startled, his face unflinching despite the sudden intrusion and the pile of employees now splayed out uselessly on the floor of Komui's office. Now he was facing them, they could see his face clearly, dark eyes and his mouth in a stern flat line. His eyebrows were peculiarly forked at the ends and he had two vertical black dots between his eyebrows.

They could also clearly see the Vatican's coat-of-arms embroidered on the breast of his blazar with bold gold thread.

"This must be your sister and the Bookman's Apprentice," he said to Komui, without sparing him a glance. His voice was neat, each word pronounced carefully and clearly, loud enough to be heard across the room, but not to the point of obnoxiousness.

Komui nodded, shooting a fierce look at the members still on the floor, who were staring up at the stranger in fascination, as though he were a newly discovered species. Catching Komui's stare, they cautiously crawled backwards out of the room, keeping their eyes on the blond man, as though hoping he couldn't see them, until they shut the door after them.

"Lenalee, Lavi," Komui greeted them, keeping up a professional façade, "This is Howard Link. The Vatican sent him, like they said they would when they phoned me earlier this week. You remember me telling you about that, right?" He prompted, the tone in his voice telling them to agree.

"Oh, right!" Lavi spoke up loudly, "Yep, it's all coming back now." He inched towards Bookman, as though he could hide behind the four-foot man.

"That's right," Lenalee followed up, sparing Lavi from embarrassment, "We were anticipating your arrival, Mr Link."

Link gave Komui's office a once-over, blatantly noting the sheaves of paper scattered on the floor which Komui still hadn't cleaned up. "Pardon me if I couldn't tell," he said drily. "And it's Inspector Link, not Mr," he corrected, bemused.

Laughing awkwardly, Lenalee sheepishly retreated to Kanda's side, scratching her cheek to hide the embarrassment she felt on her brother's behalf.

"Moving on," Link continued, tone unchanging, "You came at the perfect time – I was just about to explain the Vatican's decision to send me here, as it appears that they didn't tell Chief Komui over the phone."

"Yes, well," Komui spoke up, trying to clutch onto any scraps of professionalism he still had, "they said they were very busy, so they couldn't explain it right that moment, and that you would fill in the gaps when you arrived." It was clearly a lie, but Link either didn't notice or didn't care as he made no remark on it, despite Kanda sending a rather obvious, scathing scowl in Komui's direction.

"It's not a particularly complicated matter." Link nodded, brushing some invisible dirt off his blazar. "Simply put; I was sent here because of the lack of progress reports from Chief Komui. As per the pact between the Vatican and the Black Order, we send you blessed weapons and holy water on a regular shipment once every two weeks, and, in return, you send us frequent updates informing us what you used, what creatures you killed or caught, and where you go on each mission.

"Chief Komui has been neglecting this duty, and, despite multiple warnings, we have only received three reports from him in the past four months," Link said curtly, clasping his hands together like a businessman would.

"Oh my God," Reever sighed, massaging his temples. He helpfully biffed Komui over the head, as though it would knock some sense into the man.

"Brother," Lenalee whined pleadingly, "We've been reminding you at the end of every week to send a progress update. Why didn't you send any?"

Clearing his throat, Komui floundered to stitch together a feasible excuse, "They must have gotten lost in the post." He weakly voiced.

Kanda snorted.

"It doesn't matter now," Link brusquely continued, his voice colder than the Antarctic. "It was either send me to submit the reports in your stead, or cease all further business with the Order. This was the preferred option." He paused, waiting for any questions or objections, but no one was willing to talk to him or even look in his direction.

Satisfied with his explanation, he asked, "Do you mind directing me to a spare room I could use?"

Komui hummed in the back of his throat. "I'm sure we have one - although, it is that time of year where we get an influx of members. I'll get Johnny to find one for you." He waited a moment, as though he was about to say something more, then decided against it. "Johnny!" He called through the doors. It wasn't the loudest shout he could muster, rather, a half-hearted attempt, as if unbothered by what the outcome would be.

In spite of the lack of volume, almost immediately, Johnny poked his head through the door. He didn't need to be told what to do, as he politely led Link out of the room to show him to the spare bedrooms.

The moment they had shut the door behind them, everyone left in the room pounced on Komui, and there was a cacophony of ruthless questions and insults directed his way. In a futile attempt to regain control of the situation, Komui waved his hands in, what he hoped, was a calming motion.

"Ok! Ok! I get it!" He managed to raise his voice above the noise. "It's all my fault. If I had only been a better supervisor to you all, then we wouldn't be in this situation. I know. I thought I'd been sending them enough reports that they wouldn't feel the need to interfere, but to think they would go to such lengths." He sighed heavily, twirling a pen between his fingers, clicking it loudly.

Running a hand through his hair, Lavi swore under his breath. The Bookman stood stoically beside him, saying nothing, his black eyes following everyone. "This couldn't have come at a worse time," Lavi muttered, his agitation clear on his face.

"Once they find out Allen's missing." Lenalee trailed off, dread pooling in her stomach like greasy oil.

"They might think he's gone rogue." Reever finished for her.

Rogue exorcists were dealt with swiftly by the Order, considered as complete traitors who had denounced their humanity. After all, if you had the ability to help save people form the things that went bump in the night, you should have no reason not to want to. It was just a basic duty as a human. The Vatican was even less lenient with rogues. They considered exorcists as being blessed by God, and turning your back on the Order was the equivalent to turning your back on God. As such, there could be no redemption for your soul. Rogues were no longer thought of as human, and so, were to be treated no differently than any other supernatural entity. It was unpleasant, but the Order didn't have as much independence as they liked to pretend, and had almost no say when it came to abiding the Vatican's rules, if they lost ties with the Vatican, then they would lose most of their supplies and funding, and the Order would, in all likelihood, shut down.

"Or," Komui said, more hopefully, "They might label him as MIA, and send out a search team for him."

"We all know there's no chance in hell they'd do that. The only thing the Vatican hates more than the supernatural, are rogue exorcists." Kanda cut in brusquely.

"They might. It's only been his first transgression in the past few years he's been here. And if we factor in the mark on his wall, then we could make the case that he was attacked in his home and fled." Komui said optimistically, although it was clear he was saying this more to Lenalee than anyone else in the room

"I think it would be better if we lied and told them Allen's on a mission with Cross, for now," Reever suggested.

"I'll tell everyone else to keep quiet about it too," Lenalee said softly, "but we should try to find him quickly if we don't want the Vatican to find out."

Komui nodded, leaning back in his chair. "Before you do that, I do have a mission for you, Kanda and Lavi."

"You do?" Lavi asked, his brow creasing to form a light frown, "Since when?"

"Since this morning. We got a call at six - just before Link arrived - from a school about an hour away."

"A school?"

"Yep. Seems like it's just a poltergeist, but I feel like there's something more to it, so to be in the safe side I'm sending all three of you. The school waited a while before calling us, so I don't know how long it's been lingering there."

Kanda rolled his eyes at the prospect of a simple poltergeist exorcism needing more than one person. It was basic stuff. The kind of mission you would send completely new exorcist on. The idea that three exorcists, each with years of experience under their belts, would be dispatched, was ludicrous, to say the least. "What do you mean, 'you feel something more to it'?" He asked suspiciously.

Rubbing his chin thoughtfully, Komui took a moment to reply. "The way the school described the poltergeist was… _strange_. They said it had attacked a student."

"So, what? Poltergeists can pick up and throw objects, and they've been recorded throwing things at people. I don't see how that's strange," Lavi said sceptically, raising an eyebrow.

"That's the thing. The poltergeist didn't use any medium- it physically attacked a student by itself, as though it was solid."

"That's not possible." Lavi bluntly denied, shaking his head vigorously, "They must have missed something. There's no way that a poltergeist would be able to physically interact with a human – it would require insane amounts of power."

Beside him, Bookman hummed, pondering the idea, narrowing his eyes dangerously at Lavi. "Don't be so quick to dismiss the possibility. You're in an institute that deals with impossibilities every day – don't narrow your mind to what you _think_ should be."

Lavi shrunk back at the reprimand, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. "Then they would have to be getting that kind of power from another source, right?"

"If the story is true, then, most likely." Bookman confirmed. His thin lips whitened as he pursed them tightly together.

"All the more reason to send the three of you as a group," Komui said, clapping his hands loudly, convinced that he was making the right choice based on Bookman's apparent agreement.

Still unconvinced, Kanda remained scowling, looking ready to walk out of the room at any moment, and his hand lay on Mugen's hilt. "What time are we leaving?"

"It's a small town, so you're taking the car. I told the school you would be there between ten and twelve, which gives you an hour or two to get ready."

Curtly nodding, Kanda turned on his heel, leaving the room, head held high and ponytail swishing behind him in graceful arcs. He left the door open behind him, footsteps echoing as he walked down the corridor, away from them.

Lavi groaned, waving his arms dramatically. "It's way too early for this, and I haven't even had breakfast yet." He teetered backwards, making a display of himself as he wrapped his arms around his stomach to demonstrate his hunger.

Rolling her eyes jokingly, Lenalee smiled at Komui, playing along. "I better take Lavi to get some food, else he might just die from hunger." She lightly tugged Lavi by the arm to drag him out the room. "Come on, you drama queen. Let's go see what Jerri can whip up for us."

Letting her pull him to the cafeteria, Lavi grinned widely. It had been a while since they had joked around like this. Since Allen had gone missing it had been increasingly harder to keep smiling, and with Link's arrival he wasn't sure how much longer they would be able to keep joking. His presence alone seemed to be a damper, with his serious attitude and no-nonsense appearance and the heavy knowledge that he would be reporting everything he saw to the Vatican.

Komui's branch of the Order wasn't exactly the strictest in adhering to the Vatican's rules. Komui's fascination with mixing the supernatural with science led to some less than ideal scenarios where resources were used in excess to keep the fruits of his labour from destroying the building. In addition, he was particularly lenient about letting the exorcists have their own lives outside of the Order, allowing them to live in houses and flats nearby, only calling them in for training and missions.

It was better than in other branches, where exorcists were made to live in the building, not even allowed to finish their education in cases where the exorcist was young. It was scary to think about how dependent on the Order those people were, without the skills necessary to create a life outside of the Order and Vatican. It was probably what the Order wanted – to trap them so they couldn't escape.

With Link around, everyone would have to hedge their words and be on constant guard to ensure they didn't let any information escape. If Link found out about the amount of freedom the European Branch gave its workers, he would undoubtedly report it to the Vatican and Komui might be demoted, replaced with someone the Vatican trusted to obey them without hesitation. Lavi knew he would have to tell everyone not to go home for a little bit, until Link was satisfied and returned to the Vatican. That would also mean that they would all have to be on their best behaviour, including completing their missions quickly and writing up concise reports on everything that had occurred.

Lavi hated writing reports.

It had only been three days since Allen had disappeared, and things were already going rapidly downhill. It was a shame, because he really could have done with Allen's borderline Stepford smiling. Even if it was fake, Lavi had found comfort in the knowledge that Allen's polite smiles would be a constant. Except, he supposed it wasn't, seeing how Allen was nowhere to be found.

There had been something relaxing about walking into the Order in the morning and finding Allen with a pile of food in front of him and a perfect greeting ready.

Despite Kanda's reluctance to admit it, Lavi knew he also missed Allen. Allen had never been afraid to confront Kanda, and heir sparring had given Kanda an outlet for the frustration that built in him from the daily grind of the Order.

He hoped no one would reveal the truth to Link about Allen's absence, or they might never have those everyday normalcies again.

* * *

 **Wow, I did it, mum and dad, proud of me yet? I'm not actually a failure after all, it was all an elaborate bamboozle. Now I've made it to three whole chapters, I've finally proven my worth. What an achievement. And who knows, I might even finish this fic one day, wouldn't that be a feat?**

 **For now, though, I'll just sleep and dream of that day. Goodnight everyone, because it is late where I am, and I am most definitely not a night person.**

 **By the way, if you guys have any constructive criticism for me. Any at all. It is welcome. I am more open than a broken window when it comes to that shit.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Impossibility #4: A Punching Poltergeist (Part 1)**

The Black Order's company car wasn't a bad one. It wasn't the best one either, but it was fast enough that they could get from point A to point B with time to spare, and the interior was comfy leather with reclining seats and room for seven people at a time. Exorcists were required to apply for a driver's licence as soon as they turned seventeen, and were given lessons from a group of members who were certified instructors and would sign them up for the exam. It was Kanda's turn to drive that day. Something that Kanda found joy in and Lenalee and Lavi fear. Calling him a reckless driver didn't scratch the surface of what a terror Kanda was on the road. He suffered regular bouts of road rage and could often be seen going at least a hundred miles per hour whenever he was able to, leaving his passengers clutching their seats so they wouldn't fly around the car.

Toma was assigned to accompany them on their mission by Komui, which wasn't too bad, as Toma was quiet and reserved, preferring to leave them to do their jobs than bother interfering like some other members of the Order liked to do. He didn't have any significant spiritual power, which was why he was chosen to tail them, and not fight with them. It might have been that the Order was worried that they might try to flee the Order, or it might have been that they liked to have someone more vulnerable to their machinations to help write up an objective report, on the off-chance that one of the actual exorcists would lie. Whatever the reasoning, exorcists with spiritual capabilities were to have non-spiritual exorcists (often called 'Fakes' for their lack of ability to correctly lay a spirit to rest, instead relying on blessed items to seal them away) follow them on missions.

Amazingly, Toma was able to withstand Kanda's driving, and while Lavi and Lenalee were turning green, he sat undisturbed, eyes shut in meditation. Lavi might have been jealous of this talent, had he not been trying to restrain himself from throwing up. With Kanda at the wheel, they managed to arrive at the school in half an hour, cutting down Komui's estimated time by half. It wasn't surprising, and had, in fact, been a factor they were counting on, having decided to leave forty-five minutes before they were due to arrive.

The school was large, spanning four buildings, three with a second storey, and the grounds were surrounded by a tall fence with two electric gates by the entrance, one for cars and the other for students on foot. A large grey sign outside the gates announced it was the 'Heathbury Secondary School and Sixth Form College' in large white letters, outlined in a sparkling gold.

They had to be let in by a woman at reception, though it was clear she was sceptical of their job from the barely hidden scorn in her voice. The electric gate rolled open painfully slowly. Kanda, impatient as he was, didn't wait for it to open completely, instead flooring the car through it the moment the gap was large enough for the car to fit, almost scraping the side in his hurry.

Once they had made it inside the school, the head-teacher, a middle-aged woman with greying hair tied into a tight bun on top of her head, greeted them. Kanda was immediately able to tell she was the head, from her straight-laced appearance, with her black pencil skirt and blazar, and her stern face and intelligent eyes. She smiled at them, although it was all politeness and no sincerity, and eyed Kanda's Katana warily. "Welcome to my school. It's a pleasure to have you here," she said, sounding like she was reciting a script. Kanda cringed at the false warmth she was badly attempting to project.

"Where's this ghost then?" Lavi asked, clapping his hands together enthusiastically and grinning mischievously.

Elbowing him in the stomach, Lenalee quickly went to correct his sloppy introduction. "I apologise on his behalf." She smiled pleasantly at the head. "Thank you for calling us, Miss-?" she asked, prompting the woman for her name.

"It's Mrs Walby." The head-teacher finished for her.

"Right. Mrs Walby." Lenalee paused. "Could you show us where the student was attacked? That might be the best place to start."

Mrs Walby nodded curtly, turning on her heel abruptly and leading them through the school. Kanda wondered why she had bothered to call them when she was clearly uncomfortable with their presence. Judging by the expression Lavi made as soon as she had turned her back on them, Kanda guessed he also found her behaviour to be suspicious. Toma, as always, remained silent, jotting notes down in a small black notebook; he made no notice of Mrs Walby

"Do you have any idea who the spirit might belong to?" Kanda questioned bluntly.

"I have no clue. No one's died inside this school," she replied curtly. Kanda rolled his eyes at how obviously hedged her words were.

Giving her a strained smile, Lenalee hastily explained, "They didn't need to actually die in the building. Spirits tend to latch onto places they have a strong emotional response to. Can you think of anyone who that would fit?"

"Every teenager has a strong emotional response to school. So, no. I can't think of who it could be."

Lenalee's smile slipped from her face and she nodded awkwardly, sharing a look with Lavi.

Curling his lip in annoyance, Kanda replied in her stead, as he was aware Lenalee would be too courteous to be blunt with the head teacher. "It shouldn't be _that_ hard to figure out, especially not for someone who's supposed to be leading a school. Who's the most recent dead kid or teacher in your school? Probably through suicide or murder." When Mrs Walby made to interrupt, looking rather affronted at his words, he disregarded her easily, continuing, "No. This is not a voluntary question. If you want us to get rid of this spirit, we have to know who it is."

"And trust me," Lavi added, grinning slyly at the flustered woman, "You really don't want this thing hanging around."

Sniffing, Mrs Walby stopped suddenly in the middle of the corridor. "I suppose I can think of one student who matches up to those criteria." She sulked for a moment. "His name was Robin Knight. He was a Year Eight student – twelve, if I remember correctly. He killed himself rather suddenly last winter; his parents and friends have no clue why, by all appearances, he was happy and healthy. After that was when the ghost started appearing," she said reluctantly, fiddling with the hem of her skirt. The only noise was Toma's pen scratching against paper. Mrs Walby shot him a glare, but he never once looked up from his note-taking to notice. It reminded Kanda why he could bear Toma.

"Was Robin bullied?" Lenlaee asked, breaking the silence, sounding troubled. Ever the bleeding heart, Kanda thought to himself.

"I never taught him, so I wouldn't know, but I've talked to the staff and they can't recall any incidents."

"I'm guessing this is where the poltergeist was seen?" Lavi asked. At Mrs Walby's confirmation, he tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Kanda, do you see anything?"

Eyes flicking around the room until they caught on to the familiar green shoots beginning to unfurl from the carpet near the door to the closest classroom, Kanda grunted in a tone that could have been interpreted as a yes. The thin vines were curling against the door frame as though caressing it in a loving embrace, thick buds already forming at the tips.

Dropping the more joking lilt to his voice, Lavi probed the head teacher once more. "Whose classroom is this? And who was present when Robin attacked?"

Mrs Walby stared at the door for a moment. "That's E104, an English classroom, which, I believe, is shared by two teachers. Mr Byrne was teaching in there at the time the student was attacked, although I can assure you that he is not involved in any of this."

Her words had the opposite effect than intended, and Kanda was immediately suspicious of both the head and the English teacher, still, he bit his tongue and restrained himself from saying anything. Mrs Walby had been acting strangely since the moment they had entered her school; she was obviously hiding something, however, he doubted she would admit it. It seemed that Lenalee and Lavi had the same idea as him, as Lenalee had an openly sceptical frown furrowing her brows, and, despite not being as obvious in his distaste of the woman's withholding of information, Lavi's uncovered eye glinted with a hard light.

"Right," Lenalee muttered before wiping the frown off her face as best as she could. "Could you take me to the staff room? I'd like to speak to the other teachers while Lavi and Kanda search the classroom."

If Mrs Walby had noticed their suspicions, she made no comment. Instead she drily said, "They can look as much as they like, but I can guarantee you that they won't find anything."

"We'll be the judge of that," Lavi replied, lips cocked in a sardonic half smirk.

Apart from a twitch of her eye, Mrs Walby gave no response to Lavi, he flashed her an angelic smile, waggling his eyebrows suggestively after a long moment where she did nothing but stare at him wordlessly. Lavi often had that effect on people, Kanda mused, he often said things that you wither didn't want to, or couldn't, reply to.

"I know that I'm so handsome it can be difficult to pull your eyes away, but this is pushing it, Miss," Lavi remarked flirtatiously. Kanda shut his eyes in frustration, expelling a breath through his nose harshly.

Lenalee hid her giggles behind a delicate hand, while Mrs Walby's nostrils flared in irritation at his antics. A humiliated flush creeping up her neck, in spite of her attempts to disguise it with anger.

Praying that Mrs Walby would just leave and let them do the job she had hired them to do, Kanda pretended not to gag at Lavi's irritating act. Eventually, it became too hard to stifle his impatience and he snapped a loud, "Just fucking go already!" at the woman, before turning on his heel and stalking inside the classroom to do his job, Toma following after him.

Visibly taken aback at his abrupt rudeness, Mrs Walby wordlessly led Lenalee to the staff room, her mouth working as though she was trying to speak but nothing was coming out, leaving Lavi staring after Kanda in surprise.

Sobering up, Lenalee had to rush to catch up with Mrs Walby, who seemed to be in a hurry to get as far away from Kanda as possible. Not that she blamed the older woman; it was a common reaction to Kanda, especially when he was in a worse mood than usual.

The staff room was a large, cosy room with a sofa on one side and a kitchenette on the other. As it was lunch time, most of the teachers were huddled inside, drinking copious amounts of coffee from colourful mugs. There were about forty teachers, chatting to each other in smaller groups, noisily enough that they didn't hear Mrs Walby and Lenalee enter until a portly older woman with short grey hair greeted the head loudly. As though a switch had been flipped, the rest of the teachers hushed, welcoming her respectfully.

"Good afternoon, everyone," Mrs Walby said, her voice dripping with a saccharine lilt. "This is one of the specialists we called in to help us. She wanted to ask you some questions." She turned expectantly to Lenalee, motioning for her to take over.

"O-oh. That's alright, I can ask you questions individually – you don't all need to stop talking, 'Lenalee muttered awkwardly.

Although the chatting resumed, she could still feel eyes on her. Glancing around the room, she decided it would be best to begin with the friendliest-looking one, the portly woman from earlier. Mrs Walby had apparently no interest in helping Lenalee search for information, as she had wondered over to the coffee pot to pour herself a mug without a second glance at Lenalee.

"Hello." Lenalee began, approaching the elderly woman with a soft smile.

"Oh, hello there," the woman said warmly. "You must be one of those exorcists from the Black Order. I'm Agnes Scott, but you can call me Aggie."

Relieved at the woman's openness, Lenalee slipped into a more natural grin. "Ok. Aggie it is." Feeling much less intimidated now she was talking one-on-one with someone (Lenalee had never done well addressing crowds. Growing up in the Black Order probably had something to do with that). "Can you tell me about Robin Knight, Aggie?"

The elderly woman's face dropped at the mention of the boy, her pale green eyes dropping to the floor. "Ah, Robin," she mumbled, voice tinged with a bitter sadness. "He was a sweet boy that Robin. Didn't deserve to go that way."

"Can you think of why he would kill himself?"

Aggie shook her head. "I taught him Geography. He was a good student. Bright. Always handed in his homework on time, never missed a lesson, had friends." She paused thoughtfully, "Although," she whispered conspiratorially, "I did hear that Mr Byrne had a few problems with him – might have been the only teacher that did." She stared heatedly at one of the teachers sitting on the sofa, who Lenalee guessed must have been Mr Byrne. "Why? Do you think Robin is the ghost?" She asked, her wrinkles deepening in concern.

"You know it's a poltergeist?" Lenalee asked, surprised by the woman's willingness to propose something that most people would consider impossible.

"I had my suspicions, that's why I pressured Anne – that's Mrs Walby to you - into calling you."

"You did?"

Aggie hummed. "The Black Order helped me out last year. Apparently, I'd had a cluster of Hobgoblins living in my house. Well, they'd been playing tricks on me; hiding my glasses, stealing food, so on – I thought I was going mad! I was near wits end when one of your members strolled into town and solved my problem in ten minutes. Just imagine, for years I had been living with a tiny man without realising it, and then a kind stranger gets rid of him with no problems just by giving him new clothes." While she talked, she made wide, empathetic movements with her hands, prompting laughter from Lenalee.

"Hobgoblins can be quite troublesome," she agreed mirthfully.

"Yes. Although they did sometimes clean up my house at night," the elderly woman reminisced.

"Mrs Walby – Anne – doesn't seem like a very easy person to convince. How did you manage to do it?" Lenalee asked curiously, eyes earnestly wide.

Blinking, Aggie replied, "It wasn't as difficult as you're thinking. Things had been escalating for months, and then the ghost - poltergeist did you say? – attacked one of the students. Appeared in front of a whole class, clear as day." Aggie shook her head disbelievingly, "Well, it was impossible to deny at that point. Anne herself was in the room at the time."

Lenalee started at the new information, quickly jumping on the opportunity to press on Aggie for more. "Robin really did manage to manifest physically? Are you sure they weren't mistaken?" She asked, the words tripping out of her mouth in her urgency.

Bewildered at her interest, Aggie nodded. "Yes, there's no way it didn't happen. The poor student he attacked still has a swollen cheek from where he was punched." She studied Lenalee's face. "Why? Is that strange?"

Pale now, Lenalee shakily breathed deep breaths to calm herself. The power that Robin had was unnatural, there was no way he had come by it himself. There was something else at play, but she couldn't think of anything that would make sense. Komui had been right to send all three of them, against an unknown enemy, strength lay in numbers.

Collecting herself, she sullenly met Aggie's gaze. "Very." At Aggie's confusion, Lenalee realised that it would be wise not to give her too much information or she might be in danger. "Mr Byrne is the man on the sofa, right?" She pressed.

Upon Aggie's confirmation, Lenalee thanked her in a rush before moving on to approach the man still sipping from his coffee mug.

Mr Byrne was fairly young, probably in his thirties if she had to guess. His suit was crisp, as though it had just been pressed, although he must have been wearing it for a few hours. His tie was a plain black, striking against the background of his white shirt, but matching with his equally dark blazar. Clean shaven and hair trimmed, although, Lenalee could spot a few strands of grey beginning to gather near his temple; she wondered if it was from the stress of being a teacher, or if he was older than he looked.

His teeth were white and straight, visible as he laughed noisily with his co-workers, eyes crinkled pleasantly in joy. His dark hair was greased back neatly, shining slickly under the fluorescent lights of the staff room. Overall, he looked more like a CEO of a company rather than a teacher. He held himself the same way, Lenalee noted; it was as though he tried to take up the whole room, from his wide stance to his loud voice. Although, in Lenalee's opinion, his façade of importance paled miserably to the strict authority Mrs Walby exuded effortlessly.

"Excuse me." Lenalee politely interrupted his conversation, keeping her voice unwaveringly even. "May I speak to you privately for a moment?" She asked cautiously, keeping her distance.

Bewilderment crossing Mr Byrne's face, he swiftly moved away from the rest of his small group, smiling charmingly at them, apologetically motioning that he would be back in a moment, before moving to a quieter corner of the room to face Lenalee.

"How can I help you?" He said disarmingly, fingers twitching towards the knot of his tie.

"I want to know if you could tell me anything about Robin Knight." Lenalee said bluntly. As she met his eyes, she realised what a piercing brown they were, suddenly feeling uncomfortable at their intensity. Still, she maintained contact unfalteringly.

Mr Byrne let out a deep sigh. His eyes slid shut for a moment, and Lenalee felt relief at the short reprieve. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to talk about him again." He opened his eyes again, hand twisting the base of his tie absent-mindedly as a far-away look descended upon him in the silent gaps between his words.

"Robin was a difficult student," he began slowly, his fingers starting to turn white as he twisted them around the fabric of the tie. "I suspect he had an unfortunate home life - though I can't know for certain. Children with problematic homes often act out for attention at school, as they can't get any at home," he explained, Lenalee nodded as though she was interested, but something in his response made the hairs on her neck stand on end, and it took everything in her power not to take an instinctive step away from the man.

"I believe that's the reason why he acted out so much," Mr Byrne continued, oblivious to Lenalee's discomfort.

"That's strange; I was speaking to Aggie, and she told me that Robin only caused trouble in your class. He was apparently a lovely student to teach for everyone else," Lenalee prodded lightly.

Shrugging, Mr Byrne made a face. "It's also entirely possible he didn't like me. It was just a theory of mine." When Lenalee let out a sound of derision, he snapped to attention. "Is something wrong with what I said?" He inquired indignantly. Behind his outward control, she could tell there was a agitated fury bubbling beneath the surface, through the way his fingers tightened around the base of his tie sharply, knuckles pale with tension.

"I just think that if you really cared about Robin as much as you try to make it seem like you did, then he wouldn't be dead today," Lenalee replied bluntly, standing her ground unflinchingly.

This time, Mr Byrne's perceived calmness didn't remain, and his face twisted in ugliness in poorly contained fury. "I cared for Robin. He was brilliant student," He hissed at her. He took a step towards her, then remembered where he was and breathed deeply, reigning himself in, smiling placating at the group of teachers he had been previously conversing with when they glanced over in their direction, concerned.

Meeting his line of sight evenly, Lenalee frowned. "If you really felt that way, you would have gone out of your way to help him, instead of making up reasons to give him detentions."

Practically snarling, Mr Byrne turned away, moving back to merge with his crowd once more. "I would appreciate it if you stayed away from me from this point on, otherwise I _will_ call the police." He threw over his shoulder bitingly.

Once she was sure he wasn't going to came back, Lenalee deflated, sighing heavily, as though all her troubles were packed into one breath. "That could have gone better," she muttered to herself, annoyed at how she had probably lost her only useful lead, and the only person who most likely understood Robin's reasoning, even if he was an unpleasant person.

OoOoOoOoO

While Lenalee was facing trouble in the staff room, Kanda and Lavi were facing a different, more supernatural trouble in the classroom of Mr Byrne.

Once Kanda had confirmed Robin's recent presence in the room via the pale lotuses that tentatively curled themselves up the walls of the room, Lavi and Kanda had set to work rifling through all the drawers and cupboards. The sheer amount of flowers crowding the room had surprised Kanda at first, clumps of overlapping vines and lily pads rooted themselves into the very foundations, by he had soon overcome that initial feeling, and now only an annoyance at the hindrance they posed to his searching the room remained. He found himself having to step carefully through roots invisible to Lavi, and ripping away flowers that had flooded the drawers. He could hear Lavi chuckle maniacally at his struggles, realising his anger at looking like a fool, which he usually left to Lavi.

Luckily, the redhead knew better than to antagonise Kanda any further, and miraculously restrained his tongue from making any snarky jokes, which Kanda felt a bite of relief for. He wasn't sure he would have been able to stop himself from maiming Lavi if he had said anything, and that would have been bad – Komi would definitely have cut his pay for a stunt like that.

Toma stood silently in a corner, nose in his report book, until Kanda had snapped at him. "If you're just going to make reports, you can sit in the car. It's not like you could help us here anyway, you'd just get in the way."

Studying his face for a moment, Toma slipped his report book back into his pocket, understanding Kanda's motives, but not remarking on them, reinforcing Kanda's partiality to the other Balck Order member. "Very well. As long as you make sure to inform me of everything I miss so I can write the report," He said, then left.

Unfortunately, they're search came up short, and they found nothing of interest in the classroom, just sheaves of maths homework and folders with each students name on. Although Lavi had located Robin's file, there was also nothing they could use in it, only notes and comments on Robin's alleged poor behaviour. Robin himself hadn't appeared either, much to Kanda's dismay – he had been looking forward to taking his frustrations with the day out on the poltergeist.

They had probably upturned the whole room by the time they gave up on finding any leads.

Neither of them let this fact bring them down. The clues they were looking for weren't vital to the exorcism, but it was always easier to perform if you understood the causes why the poltergeist formed – usually they had regrets they wanted to solve, or strong enough feelings tied to the mortal plane that they could anchor themselves with. Ghosts and poltergeists responded well to empathy, although it was never a guaranteed fix – others responded better to violence, after all, and Kanda couldn't help a grim smirk at the prospect.

"Geez! I give up!" Lavi exclaimed loudly, collapsing onto a dishevelled pile of papers and exercise books with an 'oomph', sending stray papers flying.

Kanda kicked him sharply, bemused at his over dramatised actions.

Flinching at the pain, Lavi groaned, pushing himself onto his feet. "What should we do now?" He asked, resting his chin in the palms of his hands, "Do we wait for this poltergeist to show up himself, or-?"

Kanda thought about it for a moment. On one hand, there was no way to tell when the ghost would reveal himself, or even if he would at all; but on the other, they had no clue whether there was any other place it liked to show up at, and this was their best bet at exorcising it.

As it turned out, he didn't need to make a decision, as the yellow door of the classroom was suddenly pushed open.

The ruddy face of a boy on the cusp of pubescence peeked through the gap of the door cautiously, abruptly paling when he spotted Lavi and Kanda. As quickly as it had opened, the door slammed shit again, and the voices of young pre-teens filtered under the door, arguing.

Fed up and exasperated beyond his daily limit, Kanda made towards the door, ready to scare away the school children with a threatening flash of Mugen, but Lavi interrupted before he was even half way there. He raised his hands soothingly, as though Kanda were a wild animal. "Maybe I should be the one to deal with them – don't want you traumatising little children," he said, all too familiar with Kanda's style of handling social interactions.

Nodding petulantly, Kanda stepped back, despite his eagerness to take his frustrations out on something.

Lavi, relieved that Kanda had obeyed him with no fuss, plastered a wide grin across his face, adjusted his eyepatch, and sauntered over to the door confidently. He opened it, surprising the gaggle of young boys still arguing noisily, and, much to his delight, one of them fell over backwards in his shock.

"Hey there! So-o," He sang, crouching next to the collapsed boy playfully, "What are you guys doing here?" He nodded to the bright yellow cones at either side of the classroom door.

"We wanted to see the ghost," one boy brazenly said. His hair was shaved closely to his scalp, and he wore a hoodie under his blazer, and just like the rest of the little group, his shirt was untucked and his tie hung loosely around his neck.

Another of the boys punched his arm indignantly. "Not that we believe in ghosts," he told Lavi defensively, who swallowed a laugh at their ignorance.

"You think there's a ghost here?" Lavi asked, pulling the fallen boy to his feet.

The brazen one, Scott, Lavi deduced from the label barely visible on the inside of his blazar collar, scowled at his friend's embarrassed denial. "Yeah, we do," he snapped, staring Lavi down, determination in his eyes, "we know it's why you're here, and we know it's Robin." His friends flinched when he said Robin's name.

"Robin?"

"You know," another of the boys whispered conspiratorially, "the kid who killed himself a few months back – it was in all the local papers."

"It was totally Mr Byrne that did it," Scott said resolutely, "Dunno how, but he did. I reckon Robin didn't even kill himself, bet the bastard murdered him and staged it." His voice got louder as he became eager to share his theories with Lavi.

"That's quite an accusation to make about someone," Lavi reprimanded with no weight to his words apart from a raised eyebrow.

"Not really, he hated Robin's guts," a chubby boy justified, "He was always giving him detentions over nothing. Like if Robin didn't complete a worksheet by the end of lesson – no one else got one for that. Drove Rob bloody mad, that did - then he would start arguing with Sir, which led to him getting put on report and stuff. It was weird, 'cus Rob didn't even really get bad grades. If anything, I'd have thought he'd hate Scott since he's _always_ getting U's for his work." He motioned to Scott who nodded enthusiastically, unashamed about his bad performance in class.

The gears in Lavi's brain whirred at the new information, as it became clearer and clearer why Robin had chosen Mr Byrne's classroom as his haunt. It seemed there was more to the man than the head had let on.

Seeing that Lavi hadn't laughed them off as having an active imagination, Scott took this as his chance to continue. "We know how to get him to show up. Like, no one knew it was him hanging around until Max started talking about his sister – how she's like super fit and he'd bang her in a heartbeat – but she's like three years above us, so she'd never go for him. Anyway, all of a sudden, Robin just appears in from him, clear as day, and punches him right in the face!" Scott broke off, bent double with laughter he couldn't contain, his friends guffawed beside him. "It was the fucking best! He's still got a black eye!"

Rolling his eyes at the giggling boys before him, Lavi sighed, "So you want to talk crap about his sister until he shows up and tries to knock you out?"

Wiping the tears from his eyes, Scott shook his head, "Nah. Thing is, we thought there was a ghost, long before he punched Max. Like, Robin would throw shit around the classroom whenever Mr Byrne would reach for the third drawer in his desk – knock books off the tables and empty Sir's mug of coffee on him." Scott grinned as he reminisced.

"So, we open the third drawer of Mr Bryne's desk." Lavi realised.

The boys nodded in unison.

"One problem. Drawer's locked."

There was an immediate noise of protest from every boy. "How do you know? You haven't checked yet!" The boy Lavi had helped up, cried, looking affronted.

"My partner and I just turned that whole room upside down. All the drawers on the teacher's desk were locked."

The chubby boy's eyes widened dramatically, and he began jumping up and down in place. "I can open it! I can pick locks! I'm really good at it!" He shouted triumphantly.

"That's right!" Scott confirmed, "Jaden's a gypsy _and_ his dad's in prison 'cus he robbed an electronics shop. He knows all about that kind of stuff."

"I'm not a gypsy."

"You live in a caravan," Scott scoffed.

Weighing his options, Lavi decided that it would be quickest to let this Jaden try and pick the lock. Hopefully, the job would be over soon.

Hesitantly, he moved to let them through the door of the classroom, bracing himself for the glare that Kanda predictably gave him.

"Sick!" Jaden cried out when he saw Kanda. "Is that a sword? Are you a ninja?"

"If you want your hand to remain on your wrist, don't even think about touching it." Kanda snarled, edging Mugen out of its sheath to reveal the metal of the blade glinting in the blocks of sunlight filtered through the windows.

Jaden backed away, but the smile didn't fade from his lips. "Bitching," he whispered.

"My new friend Jaden here's going to shimmy open the drawer over there, weren't you, Jaden?" Lavi said as way of excusing his actions to Kanda and to prompt the kid into opening the drawer.

Jaden, picking up on his intention, scurried over to the drawer, kneeling on the floor and producing two fine pins from his uniform pocket. Lavi decided not to question why he was carrying them and let him do his job.

"Do you have no eye under there?" Scott asked as they waited, motioning to the eyepatch over Lavi's right eye.

Lavi thought for a moment if it was worth the entertainment to play along. "Yeah," he said at last, "it's just a black empty socket under here. Really disgusting. I'm sure you can understand that I'm pretty self-conscious about it." He couldn't help the wide smile that crept onto his face. "Got it when I was exorcising a demon," he lied.

"Wicked," muttered Scott. "Do you think we'll find pictures of Robin's body in there or something?" He asked after a pause.

"Maybe." Lavi shrugged. "But doesn't Mr Byrne share this room. It would be a bit dangerous to just leave that kind of stuff where another teacher could find and report it."

The boy who Lavi had helped up earlier shook his head fervently. "No. The fourth drawer is Miss Potts' and the third is Mr Byrne's. they get private ones, with a key and everything."

"I got it open!" Jaden shouted out suddenly.

Kanda, who had been wondering around the class impatiently, sprung on the boy like a tiger, pushing him out of the way as he pulled open the drawer. He sifted through some papers Lavi couldn't see from where he stood, the scowl on his face deepening with each passing moment. He turned to Lavi, signalling with a jerk of his head for Lavi to come over.

"What? What was in there?" The boys asked in unison.

Ignoring their questions, Lavi glanced through the pile of papers himself, hidden beneath them was a small notebook which he also flipped through. Once he had seen enough, he shared a solemn look with Kanda, tucking it away in his bag.

"What was in there?" They repeated.

"Yeah, what was in there?" Another voice asked, surprising everyone.

Kanda and Lavi immediately tensed, pivoting on their heels to face the voice.

Robin was standing there. More solid than any other poltergeist hey had seen, Lavi could see the pale flush of blood thrumming below his pale skin. He looked warm, flesh and blood, not the dead, ghostly imitation he truly was. His auburn hair limply framed his childish face, still youthful with baby fat, and though his eyes were innocently wide, they were swollen, as though he hadn't slept for days. A red strip snaked across his throat, barely visible above the collar of his shirt.

"Shit." Scott mustered, his voice hoarse. He was the first of the boys to recover from the shock, but as he spoke, the rest of his friends jerked out of whatever fog had descended upon them, and stared in awe at the mirage of their dead classmate, echoing Scott's sentiments.

"I think you already know what was in the drawer, don't you, Robin?" Lavi asked in the most soothing tone he could manage, "That's why you were so adamant on guarding it, right?"

"Those pictures aren't meant for anyone to look at, let alone that _bastard,_ " Robin growled viciously, his form flickering like a flame.

"I know," Lavi crooned, watching Kanda quietly pull Mugen free from its sheath from the corner of his eye.

Unfortunately, this did nothing to calm Robin down, instead agitating him further. "Don't treat me like that! I'm not a baby! I'm not fragile! I'm stronger than I ever was alive!"

A wind picked up in the room, despite the windows all being shut, and the sunny day outside. It stirred the papers that Kanda and Lavi had emptied out of the cupboards and onto the floor, lifting them up into the air and sending them flying around the room. Kanda and Lavi's hair whipped into their faces, stinging their cheeks painfully.

"Okay! I'm sorry!" Lavi shouted above the gale, but his words were stolen by the wind.

As tensions increased, Kanda jerked Mugen from its sheath, discarding any previous caution, ducking behind the desk and pulling Lavi after him, it provided some cover from the raging winds and they caught their breath. Across the room, they spotted the group of school boys follow in their suit and drop down under a nearby desk. Lavi reached for the small iron hammer he kept in a pouch hanging from his belt.

Glimpsing the weapon before they had ducked for cover, Robin yelled in anger– a cry more guttural than any sound a human could make. A primal screech that echoed crystal clear even through the winds ravaging the room. The noise pierced their ears like a spear jammed in their skulls, and everyone alive in the room instinctively clasped their hands over their ears protectively.

"Exorcists!" Robin hissed through clenched teeth, and though Lavi couldn't see him, he could hear the slap of bare feet on the floor, as the spirit approached their hiding place.

It seemed Kanda could hear his approach as well, as he threw common sense out the window and leapt over the table towards Robin, Mugen in hand.

Robin, caught by surprise, wasn't prepared to defend against Kanda who swiped across his chest in a wide arc. The tip of Mugen sliced through Robin's abdomen. A line of red was left in its wake, not blood, but something more viscous. It oozed slowly, already beginning to coagulate and harden.

'Shit,' Kanda mentally cursed. He hadn't scathed the spirit deep enough, and that aside, it was regenerating already, hardly fazed by the injury. All his actions had served to do was make Robin angrier.

Lashing out, Robin tilted his head in Kanda's direction, face twisted in anguish. The spirit grasped at his wound blindly, holding its hand up to its face to stare at the thick red goo of its essence smeared on his hand. Its eyes flicked up to stare at Kanda, hate brimming from deep within its being – it was pretty obvious which emotion it had anchored itself to, Kanda thought drily.

Robin screeched once more, an agony soaked cry, tinged with fury. The wind picked up once more, more furiously than before. A gale stronger and stronger surrounded Robin, building up energy and force before setting on a path headed directly toward Kanda.

Spotting this, Kanda attempted to move out of the way, sprinting out of its path, but outrunning the wind was impossible. It caught up to him in no time at all and swatted him away like he was no more than a fly. Kanda was swept up and slammed against the wall, hard enough that he was momentarily disorientated, he felt like his brain had been shaken around his head, and it hurt his chest to breathe.

Still, he clenched his fist around Mugen, determined not to let the sword slip from his fingers, rolling back onto his feet, he reared back. Sprinting forward once more toward the poltergeist, he wound his arm back, ready to thrust Mugen into the spirit at any moment.

However, he was intercepted once more by a buffeting wind that tossed him again, as easily as though he were a rag doll. This time he collided with a desk, back caught against the metal leg of a table, catching him mid-air. His head jerked backwards, slamming against the surface of the table-top.

The pain was sharp and intense, and his skull felt hot and damp in a way that he knew form experience meant he was bleeding. Black spots flickered at the edge of his vision and he struggled to stay conscious, spying Robin glaring at him from across the room. The familiar dread of realising that if he fell unconscious now, he might not wake up again, pooled in the pit of his stomach, but it was useless to fend off blissful darkness anymore, and he found himself succumbing to the total blackness.

He felt his legs collapse beneath him, and heard the thud of his body sinking onto the floor without the support.

His last thought before he completely went under was: 'Lavi better get off his goddamn arse and help for once'. Then just welcoming emptiness.

* * *

 **...Hi. A bit of a late chapter, but hey, it's pretty long, so hopefully that makes up for it. At least we've entered the first mission, so actual action, wow. I've just been really busy with uni, and lack of motivation, which has made writing in general a pain - it's not really an excuse, but oh well. I mean, I don't plan on abandoning this story, it just might take me a bit longer to update every now and then depending on how my life's going. My Easter holidays are starting, however, and hopefully I'll be able to get some more chapters done for this in between revising for exams.**

 **Anyway, just want to say thanks for managing to get this far in the story. And to everyone leaving reviews,** **thank you so much, it's a huge motivating factor - I'd probably wrote this story regardless, but nothing beats that warm, fuzzy feeling when someone likes the story enough to leave a review. Not that I want to exclude the people who don't, I appreciate everyone who take the time to read my shitty writing, and I get that there are reasons someone might not want to review.**

 **With luck, I shouldn't take so long to update next time. Have a good night/morning/afternoon/evening everyone.**


End file.
